Milton Bradley
Milton Obelle Bradley, Jr. (born April 15, 1978 in Harbor City, California) is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Seattle Mariners. Bradley is named after his father, Milton Bradley, Sr., who filled out the birth certificate form without his wife's permission. As Milton's mother says of his father, "He wanted a Junior, and made sure he got one."http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=1574709&type=story Major League Baseball career Early career Bradley was drafted out of Long Beach Polytechnic High School in the second round of the draft by the Montreal Expos. In the Expos' farm system, he hit a Game 5 walk-off grand slam home run to win the Double-A Eastern League Championship for the Harrisburg Senators.Minor League Baseball: History: Top 100 Teams Bradley's Major League Baseball debut was on July 19, , for the Montreal Expos. He was traded to the Cleveland Indians on July 31, , for Zach Day. Days before the start of the season, he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers for prospects Franklin Gutierrez and Andrew Brown, following an altercation with Indians manager Eric Wedge. He was a regular member of the lineup for the Dodgers in 2004, where he posted a batting average of .267. On December 13, , Bradley was traded to the Oakland Athletics along with infielder Antonio Pérez for outfielder Andre Ethier, who at the time was a minor league prospect. Bradley has a tendency to not stay with any one team for very long, switching teams about every one and a half years; in his eleven seasons in the majors, he has been with eight teams. 2006 season In his first season with the Oakland Athletics, Bradley posted a .276 batting average with 14 home runs and 52 runs batted in a part-time role. In game 4 of the 2006 American League Championship Series versus the Detroit Tigers, Bradley became the third player in Major League History to hit home runs from each side of the plate in a playoff game, joining Bernie Williams and Chipper Jones. 2007 season On June 21, , the Athletics designated Bradley for assignment. Eight days later, the San Diego Padres acquired Bradley and cash considerations from the Oakland A's in exchange for minor league pitcher Andrew Brown, marking the second time the two had been traded for each other. The Padres did not require Bradley to pass a physical examination before signing him, as he would have failed it and gone elsewhere. Bradley started his tenure with the Padres on the 15-day disabled list, but came off it right before the All-Star break. After the break, he was a continual starter in left field and one of the most consistent hitters for the Padres throughout the rest of the season. After the 2007 season, Bradley agreed to a one-year contract with the Texas Rangers. He announced in early January , that he expected to be ready to play in the 2008 season opener against the Seattle Mariners.ESPN - Rehabbing torn ACL, Bradley plans to play in Rangers' opener - MLB 2008 season Bradley shined during the 2008 season, as the Rangers designated hitter; he led the American League in OPS (on base plus slugging) with a 1.036. He was third in batting average (.321) and excelled in on-base percentage (.443). He was somewhat humbled with his success "I really haven't even thought about it," he said. "If I somehow miraculously made it to the All-Star Game, I would be floored. I'd really be totally humbled by that. I'm just happy right now to play, to produce and to be with a good group of guys." Bradley was selected to play in his first All-Star Game in 2008 as a DH. He was officially in as a DH reserve but due to the injury of David Ortiz, Bradley started as a DH in the 2008 MLB All-Star Game. In July 2008, it was announced that Milton Bradley would occasionally blog for the ''New York Times, but he contributed only one entry. 2009 season in .]] On January 8, , Bradley signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Chicago Cubs.Cubs land Bradley with three-year deal Bradley was assigned uniform number 21, and play right field, reminiscent of former Cub Sammy Sosa.Flashbacks to Slammin' Sammy Bradley was issued a two-game suspension for supposedly making contact with umpire Larry Vanover while arguing a strike call April 16. After appealing the sentence, the suspension was reduced to one game. During an inter-league against the Minnesota Twins on June 13, Bradley caught a routine fly-out in left field and threw it into the stands, believing it was the third out in the inning, when there were only two outs. The umpire allowed each of the Twins base runners to advance two bases. Later that month, Cubs manager Lou Piniella told Bradley to leave the dugout and go home after Bradley threw a tirade after flying out in a game against the Chicago White Sox. Piniella and Bradley later confronted each other in the locker room, and exchanged words again. Piniella addressed the incident after the game, telling the media, "This has been a common occurrence and I’ve looked the other way a lot and I’m tired... I’m not into discipline, I’m really not. I’m going to put his name in the lineup tomorrow and that’s it." Piniella later apologized to Bradley, and reinserted him back into the line-up during the team's next start. On September 20, 2009, the Cubs announced that Bradley would be suspended for the remainder of the season after an interview with the media that General Manager Jim Hendry felt was disrespectful. Bradley eventually apologized to the Cubs organization for his remarks. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Bradley was traded in a deal of "I don't want you trades" with the Mariners trading a struggling Carlos Silva for a hated Milton Bradley. Seattle Mariners On December 18, 2009, Bradley was traded to the Seattle Mariners for Carlos Silva and cash. He was part of a flurry of offseason moves by the Seattle Mariners in hopes of returning to the playoffs, having not reached the postseason since 2001. On May 4, 2010, Bradley removed himself from a game and left the stadium without permission, leading the team to put him on the restricted list. Controversies 2007 season On September 23, 2007, Bradley tore his right ACL while being restrained by Padres manager Bud Black during an altercation with first base umpire Mike Winters. Home plate umpire Brian Runge reportedly told Bradley that Winters said that Bradley had tossed his bat in Runge's direction in a previous at-bat. After Bradley reached first base, he questioned Winters about the alleged bat throwing and subsequent communication with Runge. According to Bradley and Padres first base coach Bobby Meacham, Winters used a profanity towards Bradley. Bradley then moved towards Winters. While restrained by Black, Bradley fell to the ground resulting in the injury. He missed the last week of the regular season in 2007, during which the Padres relinquished their division lead, ultimately losing to the eventual N.L. Champion Colorado Rockies in a one game playoff. Winters was suspended for the remainder of the season and disqualified from the postseason for the incident, after MLB determined that he indeed directed obscene language toward Bradley. Bradley was not suspended, the MLB reasoning that there was no need since he did not make physical contact with Winters.ESPN - Pads' Bradley fined, not suspended in blow-up with umpire - MLB 2008 season According to the The Dallas Morning News Bradley attempted to confront Kansas City Royals television announcer Ryan Lefebvre in the press box following a game due to what he believed were unfair comments made on the air. As the Rangers' designated hitter, Bradley was able to watch the broadcast when he was not batting and took offense to a comparison Lefebrve made between him and Josh Hamilton. Manager Ron Washington and general manager Jon Daniels chased after him and stopped Bradley before he got to Lefebvre, at which point Bradley returned to the clubhouse in tears and said "All I want to do is play baseball and make a better life for my kid than I had, that's it," Bradley said to a quiet clubhouse. "I love all you guys. ... I'm strong, but I'm not that strong." Bradley was quoted by Rangers radio broadcasters as saying that he never intended to physically harm Lefebvre but did want to speak to him; Daniels said that Bradley was upset that someone that he did not know was passing judgments about him. 2009 season Milton Bradley was suspended by the Chicago Cubs for conduct in which the Chicago Cubs General Manager Hendry viewed as detrimental to the organization after he was quoted as saying there is "negativity" with the organization and the city environment and "you understand why they Cubs haven't won in 100 years here." He also said he was uncomfortable with his presence with the Chicago Cubs.http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=4490125 On December 18, 2009 Bradley was traded to the Seattle Mariners for starting pitcher Carlos Silva. References External links * * Voided Trade * AOL Video of Milton Bradley's Argument with Mike Winters, and subsequent ejection and injury * ESPN.com feature on Milton Bradley, "Bradley knows only one way -- the hard way" by Alan Schwarz Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:Montreal Expos players Category:Cleveland Indians players Category:Los Angeles Dodgers players Category:Oakland Athletics players Category:San Diego Padres players Category:Texas Rangers players Category:Chicago Cubs players Category:Seattle Mariners players Category:African American baseball players Category:American League All-Stars Category:Major League Baseball outfielders Category:Major League Baseball players from California Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Gulf Coast Expos players Category:Vermont Expos players Category:Cape Fear Crocs players Category:Jupiter Hammerheads players Category:Harrisburg Senators players Category:Ottawa Lynx players Category:Akron Aeros players Category:Las Vegas 51s players Category:Stockton Ports players Category:Sacramento River Cats players Category:Right Fielders Category:Players